Brammo Owners Forum

Yes. Get the suspension adjusted. I weigh 150 lbs and the suspensions are typically way to stiff. Luckily, I have a suspension pro right here in town, but the dealer should do it for you. It makes all the difference. If you find yourself flying off the seat when you hit a bump or dip, it's imperative. Having said that though, The suspension on the Empulse I test rode today seems OK for me. I didn't get up to full speed though. BTW, that bike is for say. It's a demo and also for sale if you live near Austin. I doubt they would knock anything off the price for it being used though...although they should.

Yes, I bought it Nov 30th and traded it in Jan 26th with 850 miles on it. Nothing much wrong with it. Many do have a quirk that may be related to the mapping, but Kawa hasn't said. When you depress the clutch especially going downhill, the engine rpms drop rapidly and the engine stops. Some do it a lot. Mine only did it when the engine was still cold. You can circumvent it by giving the throttle a tweak as you squeeze the clutch. It's a typical in-line twin which means it vibrates a bit. Not quite as much as the 650r, but more than I like. I traded it cause I made a killer deal on a new 2011 GSXR-1000 using the 300 as a trade-in. To show you how much I like THAT bike, I just turned 1500 miles in 10 days of owning it. 

The Empulse was OK. Not $21,000 worth of bike though. The seat was perfect for me at 5'7" and it handled fine, and acceleration was also ok. Foot pegs were a little high, but those might be adjustable. The noises coming from the gearbox were a distraction. There was this delayed clunk as I accelerated from a stop. I'm not sure what that was, but I didn't like it. I'm thinking I might like the sound of the 2013 Zero better. I owned a 2011 Zero S until the Agni motor burned up with 2000 miles and that bike was fine and certainly sounded better than the Empulse. I traded the Zero in on a new Vespa. Yes, I do a lot of bike trading.

Does anyone know the highest continuous speed for each of these bikes? Secondly, do you think the water cooling will make the Empulse a better summer heat performer?

With the 2012 Zero S, there is the no gear box and it is air cooled. One would think the Empulse would not be limited at all or even have to worry about sustained speed. It is a lot heavier though, so there's that. If it couldn't maintain an indicated 80 mph, better yet 85 mph,  I would not be able to trust it riding on the interstate because that is how fast people ride drive around here. Can you imagine trying to pass someone and have your bike decide to slow down on it's own? Hope we find out soon the correct information. This is huge.

Well lookie here. Some actual deliveries? Wondered if I'd ever see the day. Looking forward to frequent updates, owner reviews, and Gopro YouTube videos. The forum has been almost dead for some reason. Perhaps actual bikes will liven things up a bit.

I doubt Brammo will be too quick to put a stock Empulse r in competition with either the stock Ninja 650r, the Ninja 300, or any other ICE bikes for that matter. Personally, between an Empulse r and a Ninja 250r (both stock), I would put my money on the Ninja....until proven otherwise. Comeon Brammo, you have to walk the walk.

Yes, a Suzuki SV 650 might be a reasonable comparison. The Street Triple r has almost 2X the HP (54 for the Empulse r vs. 105 for the Street Triple r), more torque, 50 lbs. less weight, goes 140 mph, does 0-60 mph in about 3 seconds.... so that would not be a good comparison.

Electric motorcycles are however improving in leaps and bounds with each model year. It's exciting to watch. I feel like we are just one breakthrough away in battery technology from making them mainstream.